


The Pleasure of Staring

by Marsali



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: M/M, because dwarves are cool too dammit, squid of anger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 16:58:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3700049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marsali/pseuds/Marsali
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Staring at Dorian in the library had turned into a guilty pleasure of sorts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pleasure of Staring

**Author's Note:**

> Because I was kind of mad that there are almost no fics about Cadash and Dorian out there. I played with Renly and he and Dorian did it and it was magnificent, okay!

Staring at Dorian in the library had turned into a guilty pleasure of sorts. 

Whenever Renly had some free time on his hands he made a point of wandering through the Skyhold, trying to acquaint himself to everyone possible and talking to his companions as much as he could. He had always been a people person, hands on and talented at making people laugh. He could still recall standing in the kitchen beside his mother, deep worry lines marring her features, and pulling faces in an effort to cheer her up. He loved it, when the lines morphed and became more prominent around her eyes as she smiled. He never failed to get a little one out of her, at the least. Later on, he put his talents to a different use, but that made them no less effective. The Carta had regarded him as an asset. His way with people, his ability to make them spill their secrets, had made him stand out. 

He was grateful for the talent now more than ever, even if it had transformed into a form of responsibility rather than pleasure. But making rounds and being pleasant, witty, kind to everyone and everything also took time away from making eyes at the mage’s back. However, he rather needed to make these rounds, see, because if he didn’t, if he only let himself be guided by his wants and needs, he would not spend much of his free time outside of the library at all. The leader of the Inquisition should have better logical reasoning, he supposed. Were it solely up to him, he would save up all of his humor and charm for Dorian only and stop speaking to the rest of the world altogether. Which would be impractical. And impossible. He still wanted to do it, however. 

Renly tried not to sigh and give his spot on the stairs away. With his arms crossed in front of his chest, he let his eyes follow Dorian’s every move, tried to take note of every little twitch and shiver. Really, Dorian should consider wearing a style of armor that didn’t completely bare one of his shoulders. The library was drafty at best and even if it weren’t, Skyhold was hardly located in a tropical area. On the other hand, Renly rather despised the thought of being deprived of having all this brown skin hidden from his view. It was not like he would be able to see it in other situations after all. 

And this was really the heart of it, wasn’t it? Renly wasn’t simply fawning, crushing, stumbling over himself because of the mage. He was pining in an altogether ridiculous and heart wrenching fashion that … well, wrenched his heart. He was no damn, poet, he didn’t know how else to put it even in his own head. Charm he could do, but this … This was a new kind of territory. Never before had he been so foolish as to fall in love or whatever this thumping, racing, stopping of his heart meant that seemed to be going on whenever Dorian decided to bestow a smirk upon him. It was pathetic. And if falling in love was bad, then falling in love with a human was a fool’s mistake. Renly had never thought himself particularly foolish, no more than others at least, but now he knew he was the biggest fool to ever show his face west of Ferelden.

“Are you at all comfortable on the stairs? Or has staring at my magnificent behind purged all feelings of uncomfortableness from your body?”

Renly started badly and almost hit his head on the post he had been leaning on. It seemed like his presence hadn’t been as well chosen as he had thought. “It seems that every body part of a mage has magical traits of some sort. I was completely enchanted” he managed to get out with burning cheeks, before Dorian turned around and laughed rather too handsomely. Did it come naturally to him or was some effort involved in being so utterly … 

“Well, it has served me nicely so far. I am fond of it myself. Come sit down if you feel like staying a little longer.” 

Renly inclined his head and slowly drew closer. He drew his brows together in confusion. “If you knew I was standing there all along, why didn’t you say anything?”

The corner of Dorian’s mouth quirked and he tilted his head. “Oh, but I did say something. You must have noticed from the way you almost tumbled down the stairs out of surprise.”

Could his cheeks feel any hotter? “I meant up until now.” 

“I couldn’t very well deprive you of the view. And it seems to do leaps and bounds for my ego. But I had to sit down again at one point, wouldn’t you agree? Everything else would have seemed positively decadent.” He crossed his legs and leaned back a little, drawing Renly’s attention away from his lips and to his chest and shoulder. That damn shoulder, really. He wanted to touch it so badly; he had to curl his hands to tight fists. “And I love the way your blush tries to imitate the color of your hair. I have seldom seen anything so endearing.”

“You are a scholar and a gentleman” Renly muttered helplessly and sat down across from Dorian, minutely tugging on the strands of his red hair.

“That I am. Did you want something in particular? Or where you just seeking to bask in my presence?”

He must be so obvious. Silly little dwarf throwing himself at Dorian Pavus. He wondered if all the teasing could be of a more malicious nature than Renly had previously considered. Maybe all the flirting, maybe even the kiss, by the Stone that kiss, had all been out of pity, or … But Dorian was not an altruist, was he? 

“I wanted to talk to you” is what he settled on in the end. Better than nothing, right?

“Oh? Searching for my delightful company, then. What would you like to talk about?” He settled his cheek on his hand and sent Renly this playful gaze that … did something to his insides that wasn’t altogether comfortable. He wanted more of it. Also, Renly was kind of trapped now. He hadn’t come to talk. He had come to ogle and … Be the roguish rogue he usually was and ask … 

“Alright. I admit it. I came to ask for another of those kisses.” 

There. He had said it. It was out in the world. Now he would find out if that one kiss had been what he feared it to be. A passionate mistake. A wonderful, but unfortunate thing that had been born out of a moment filled with muddled feelings. A fluke, despite everything Dorian had said before. He wanted it to be real, however. I wished for it, yearned. He wanted it to mean more, more, more. 

Dorian laughed and Renly’s heart plummeted. “Talk, he says. Very well, but let’s go somewhere more private. Have you been to your quarters lately?”

“Not recently, no” he responded in a daze. Had he heard correctly? 

“Let us be along then.” Dorian got up gracefully and Renly did the same, with less grace. Too eager, to surprised, was he to muster much of it at the moment. 

“How where the Hinterlands?” Dorian asked on their way down the stairs. 

“Mountainy. We were searching for one of those red lyrium mines and ran into a dragon on our way there.” 

“A dragon? I thought I had smelled some smoke on you. Did you get scorched?” Was there a note of worry behind the teasing? Renly couldn’t tell. All his knowledge about people seemed to regularly throw itself out of the window, wherever Dorian was concerned. 

“A little. Bull wanted to try and kill it, but Varric, Cassandra and I decided we would rather not die a flamey death, thank you.”

“A very wise choice. I should not like to see you die. It would make this place a lot duller.” Dorian drew a little closer so that his arm was brushing Renly’s. It sent a thrill through him that made his stomach twist and his toes curl. He breathed in deeply and briefly closed his eyes at Dorian’s typical smell. Spicey. Lovely. 

They walked though the main hall and the dwarf could feel all of the people’s eyes on him. He straightened instinctively, stood up to his whole height, unimpressive as it may have been, nodding at a few members of Orlesian royalty. 

“Look at the little gossips” Dorian said with a sigh. “This will set tongues wagging even more than they already are. They will think the evil Tevinter magister enslaved the poor Inquisitor with his magical trickery.” He sounded as bitter as he had the last time they had talked, after Renly had given him his amulet back. 

“You know I don’t care about that. I’m already a dwarf. What harm can one more little thing on top of that do?” He knew there would be consequences; he had already heard some of the guards whispering. But he didn’t care. He gave them so much and did it gladly. But he wanted something for himself, too. 

Dorian shook his head and let Renly open the doors to his quarters for him. Once in his chambers, nerves jumped him like a common highwayman and made his hands all sweaty. Urgh, he had become the very picture of a besotted, dwarven idiot. He tried to inconspicuously wipe them on his trousers, but Dorian’s glance lay heavily on him. It couldn’t have escaped his notice. 

“Why, Inquisitor. Are you becoming shy all of a sudden?” He traced a coy finger along Renly’s desk, before coming closer. 

“Renly. Please, call me Renly in here, alright? I don’t want to be him each second of every day. Or at least, I want to not think about it all the time.” 

“Still, you are nervous, my dear dwarf. Care to share?” He stepped up to Renly and placed his forearms on his shoulders, crossing them behind his neck. The position only emphasized their difference in height. Renly had to crane his neck to properly look into the mage’s eyes. He still couldn’t quite fathom how he had managed to garner Dorian’s attention. And he seemed to still be in possession of it, as well. 

“Not particularly. I am more interested in sharing something else with you. You promised there would be kisses.” He gave Dorian his best charming smile and the mage chuckled. 

“I did, didn’t I? Have it your way. I will get it out of you, however. Do not tell yourself otherwise.” 

Renly finally let his hands do what they had desired to do all day and settled them on Dorian’s trim waist. He was more than a head taller but much narrower. The dwarf felt clumsy, like an oaf.

But all thought vanished in an instant, when Dorian finally bent his head and touched his lips to Renly’s. He had worried a little, previously. The rushed, passionate, wild kiss in the library couldn’t have been as good as his memory told him. It could not have been so hot, so delicious, so tingling as to almost bring damn tears to his eyes. But it must have been. Because Dorian’s lips where soft and warm and his moan once their tongues touched for the first time led Renly to arch his back in an effort to draw closer. He tried his best to mould himself against the mage, delighted in the feel of his warm body and finally found the nerve to let one of his hands snake up Dorian’s chest and to his bare shoulder. His skin was as satiny soft as it looked. Renly wanted to lick it. 

“I love how strong you are. You could probably carry me through all of Thedas without breaking a sweat” Dorian murmured against his lips, before biting the lower one teasingly. He leaned more of his weight on the dwarf, who took it without batting an eye. 

“Not all of it. Half, maybe” Renly said breathlessly. Why was Dorian not kissing him still? He should sit his ass on that fancy throne of his and sentence Dorian to a lifetime of kissing him constantly. It was a crime against nature, this gap between their lips. 

“Such modesty. How unbecoming.” He took a step back and Renly opened his mouth to protest, but the mage took his hands in his and led him to his desk, where he patted the wooden surface. “Hop up, if you will. I plan on doing a little more of this, but my neck won’t thank me if we don’t get you up a little higher.” 

Renly closed his eyes, something akin to shame crawling up his spine. He had felt ashamed of himself and his heritage before, of course. Being a surface dwarf was not anything honorable and the people’s comments didn’t help the matter. His mother had tried her best to make sure, he didn’t hear the brunt of it, but hear he did. Joining the Carta and confirming everyone’s suspicions and stereotypical expectations for him hadn’t helped the matter either. “I’m sorry.”

Dorian blinked and threw his arms wide. “What, pray tell, are you apologizing for? Are you not having a good time?” He seemed honestly mystified, the magnificent idiot, and Renly was unsure whether to find this annoying or endearing. Or was it an act?

“No. I am enjoying it. I’m simply sorry it isn’t as … effortless as it could be with someone else.” 

Dorian arched a brow and twirled the side of his mustache. “If I wanted easy, I would have gone for the stable boy, not the Inquisitor.” 

“You purposefully misunderstand me” Renly gowled, now definitely leaning more towards annoyance. “I’m apologizing for the fact that not everything fits as easily as it would with someone human.” 

In an instant, Dorian had crowded him against the desk, looming over him. “Do you take me for a selfless man? Someone who would do something, he didn’t want to do?” Renly had expected a dangerous tone of voice, but instead was surprised by the gentle note that accompanied his almost blank features. 

“No. Not usually.” His heart thumped heavily and he almost regretted bringing the matter to attention.

“But in this case you do? Silly dwarf. I want to be here. I want you. Whatever doesn’t fit, we will order to fit. Between my dashing intelligence and your refreshing whit, we should manage to make something … delicious out of this. Wouldn’t you agree?” he breathed against Renly’s ear. 

Renly swallowed and promptly choked on his own spit, which led to a minor coughing fit. Very alluring. Well done, Renly. 

“No need to choke to death, my dear. Was this what had you worried, before?” 

“Yes.” He finally settled himself on the edge of the table, legs dangling uselessly. Dorian stepped in between his spread legs and Renly had to admit what a good idea this had been. Not only where they of a height now, Dorian’s crotch also pressed insistently, marvelously, wondrously against his. His breath caught in his throat, as Dorian rocked his hips a little, mischievous glint in his eyes. 

“Rest assured, then” he said with a little moan. “You have captured my interest, as I have yours. Or do you think I do not stare at you from my window, when you train in the courtyard?”


End file.
